The use of hydrocracked and straight-run vacuum residues in the production of road pavement bitumen requires a good understanding of how the viscosity and softening point can be modeled and controlled. Scientific reports on modeling of these rheological properties for hydrocracked and straight-run vacuum residues are scarce. For that reason, 30 straight-run vacuum residues and 33 hydrocracked vacuum residues obtained in a conversion range of 55−93% were investigated, and the characterization data were employed for modeling purposes. An intercriteria analysis was applied to investigate the statistically meaningful relations between the studied vacuum residue properties. It revealed that the straight-run and hydrocracked vacuum residues were completely different, and therefore their viscosity and softening point should be separately modeled. Through the use of nonlinear regression by applying CAS Maple and NLPSolve with the modified Newton iterative method and the vacuum residue bulk pro... [more]

With the push for higher efficiency and reliability, an increasing number of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) and associated information and communication technology (ICT) are integrated into the Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled smart grid. These advanced technologies and IEDs also bring potential vulnerabilities to the intelligent cyber−physical smart grid. State estimation, as a primary step of system monitoring and situational awareness, is a potential target for attackers. A number of other smart grid applications, such as voltage stability assessment and contingency screening, utilize state estimation results as input data. False data injection (FDI) is a specific way to attack state estimation by manipulating input data. Existing research mainly focuses on the mathematical analysis of FDI attacks; however, in these methods, discussions of reachability requirements to compromise measurements considering cyberinfrastructure are limited. Reachability is defined as a measure tha... [more]

Electricity consumption accounts for a considerable part of the final energy consumption, and it is important for economic development and human life. This study explores the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of electricity consumption in the Yangtze River Delta region in China from 2006 to 2019, using the gravity model and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method, respectively. The results show that: (1) The centers of gravity for the total final, industrial and residential electricity consumptions have a trend of migration towards the west. (2) The distance of migration of the center of gravity for residential electricity consumption is the highest, and the trend of migration of the center of gravity for industrial and total final electricity consumptions are synchronous. (3) Economic development is the main reason for the growth in regional electricity consumption, and the decrease in the investment electricity consumption intensity inhibits the growth of... [more]

Improving the quality of products remains a challenge. This is due to the turbulent environment and the dynamics of changing customer requirements. Hence, the key action is to predict beneficial changes in products, which will allow one to achieve customer satisfaction and reduce the waste of resources. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to develop a universal model to predict the expected direction of quality improvement. Initially, the purpose of the research was determined by using the SMART(-ER) method. Then, during the brainstorming method (BM), the product criteria and range states of these criteria were determined. Next, a survey with the Likert scale was used to obtain customers’ expectations, i.e., assessing the importance of criteria and customers’ satisfaction with ranges of product criteria states. Based on customer assessments, quality product levels were calculated using the Weighted Sum Model (WSM). Then, the initial customer satisfaction from the product quality... [more]

Smart grid technology has given users the ability to regulate their home energy use more efficiently and effectively. Home Energy Management (HEM) is a difficult undertaking in this regard, as it necessitates the optimal scheduling of smart appliances to reduce energy usage. In this research, we introduce a metaheuristic-based HEM system which incorporates Earth Worm Algorithm (EWA) and Harmony Search Algorithms (HSA). In addition, a hybridization based on the EWA and HSA operators is used to optimize energy consumption in terms of electricity cost and Peak-to-Average Ratio (PAR) reduction. Hybridization has been demonstrated to be beneficial in achieving many objectives at the same time. Extensive simulations in MATLAB were used to test the performance of the proposed hybrid technique. The simulations were run for multiple homes with multiple appliances, which were categorized according to the usage and nature of the appliance, taking advantage of appliance scheduling in terms of the... [more]

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the wide scope of supply chain collaboration including both customers and suppliers (Upstream−downstream External Collaboration) determines the greening of innovation more significantly than the scope limited only to suppliers (Upstream External Collaboration) or customers (Downstream External Collaboration). This goal was achieved as part of extensive research on the impact of relational capital on the innovativeness of high-tech companies in Poland. The results of the research were analysed using fuzzy conversion scales and descriptive statistics based on triangular fuzzy numbers. The application of the achievements of the fuzzy sets theory made it possible to test the hypotheses presented in the article with the use of fuzzy analysis of variance (fuzzy ANOVA). The findings confirm that the subjective scope of collaboration in the supply chain is important for greening innovation. Companies that cooperate with both suppliers and c... [more]

This paper reports the design of a magnetic-geared permanent magnet synchronous motor (MG-PMSM) for a 45 kW tram traction system based on high torque density. In the case of the existing tram driving system, due to mechanical reduction gear and induction motor, it causes power transmission loss, low efficiency, and difficulty in lightweight. To solve this problem, research on the MG-PMSM, which combines a contactless magnetic gear with a high-power-density PMSM, is being actively conducted. This motor has a double rotor structure, and the inner rotor, including permanent magnet, and the outer rotor composed of pole-pieces rotate at different mechanical speeds. However, it is hard to design a tram driving system with a high torque density within limited conditions, because only one rotor in MG-PMSM is used as an output. In addition, there is no study conducted from basic design to final design, including gear ratio and topology selection in MG-PMSM for tram. Therefore, this paper presen... [more]

The necessity of coolant flow consumption measurement accuracy increase in the nuclear reactor primary circuit has been substantiated. Additionally, the need to control the coolant condition in the current flow inside the pipeline is shown. Nowadays, the real-time coolant’s condition control function is not implemented at stationary nuclear power plants or mobile nuclear power plants used in moving objects. It is shown that a coolant consumption measurement error decreases and its condition data availability increases the heat transfer efficiency and the electrical energy generation (without the nuclear reactor and steam generator design change). Problems arising during coolant consumption control using various flowmeters models in the nuclear reactor primary circuit are considered. It has been found that nuclear magnetic flowmeters can solve these problems. New difficulties are noted as emerging when using pulsed nuclear magnetic flowmeters designs developed for measuring hydrocarbons... [more]

The energy demand of electric buses (EBs) is a very important parameter that should be considered by transport companies when introducing electric buses into the urban bus fleet. This article proposes a novel deep-learning-based model for predicting energy consumption of an electric bus traveling in an urban area. The model addresses two important issues: accuracy and cost of prediction. The aim of the research was to develop the deep-learning-based prediction model, which requires only the data readily available to bus fleet operators, such as location of the bus stops (coordinates, altitude), route traveled, schedule, travel time between stops, and to find the most suitable type and configuration of neural network to evaluate the model. The developed prediction model was assessed with different types of deep neural networks using real data collected for several bus lines in a medium-sized city in Poland. Conducted research has shown that the deep learning network with autoencoders (D... [more]

The research presented in this paper focuses on the impact of fast charging stations (FCSs) on voltage quality. When the operation of FCSs causes a voltage fluctuation and light flicker, the FCSs may be disconnected, as per the utility general standard practice, which results in financial loss represented by FCS downtime. FCS downtime can be avoided by mitigating voltage fluctuation and light flicker. Flicker mitigation devices that are available in the market are characterized by their high total annual equivalent costs. As an alternative, a novel smart charging method is proposed in this study in order to mitigate both voltage fluctuation and light flicker, whereby customers can select one of three charging services available in fast chargers: premium, regular, or economic charging power. The charging power is selected according to customer priority in relation to time and cost, which offers more flexibility than those currently available in the literature. For instance, the premium... [more]

Building automation is concerned with closed- and open-loop control of building services such as heating, cooling, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting and shading. The ultimate goal is to reduce energy consumption while providing comfort for the occupants. However, ensuring human comfort is a complex affair. In case of dissatisfaction, users need to inform the building operators about apparently badly adjusted setpoints. Then, service units of the facility management have to manually analyze how to improve the situation. Due to the complex characteristics of human perception and derived feedback, this can become a troublesome and time-consuming task. This paper describes the main results of our investigations to improve occupant comfort in office buildings using environmental information monitored by a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and human perception collected from a feedback tool. A joint information base aligned with static data from building information modeling integrates... [more]

SI engines are installed widely in small aircrafts as they have good fuel economy. Currently, these SI engines are fueled with gasoline, although their safety can be improved if kerosene is used. However, the combustion performance of kerosene cannot fulfil the requirements due to the differences in physicochemical properties. This study investigates the ignition delay time of kerosene at a pressure range of 15−35 bar and a temperature range of 600−1000 K. A detailed chemical reaction mechanism is employed for the premixed combustion process. Under the initial conditions of 1000 K and 35 bar, with an equivalence ratio of 1, the total ignition delay time of kerosene is 0.401 ms. The NTC range of kerosene is determined as roughly 750−920 K. Subsequently, the chemical reaction paths with an equivalence ratio of 0.8, 1, and 1.2 and an initial pressure of 15, 20, and 25 bar were analyzed. The rate-determined elementary reactions were obtained based on a sensitivity analysis. The difference... [more]

Short-term building energy consumption forecasting is vital for energy conservation and emission reduction. However, it is challenging to achieve accurate short-term forecasting of building energy consumption due to its nonlinear and non-stationary characteristics. This paper proposes a novel hybrid short-term building energy consumption forecasting model, SSA-CNNBiGRU, which is the integration of SSA (singular spectrum analysis), a CNN (convolutional neural network), and a BiGRU (bidirectional gated recurrent unit) neural network. In the proposed SSA-CNNBiGRU model, SSA is used to decompose trend and periodic components from the original building energy consumption data to reconstruct subsequences, the CNN is used to extract deep characteristic information from each subsequence, and the BiGRU network is used to model the dynamic features extracted by the CNN for time series forecasting. The subsequence forecasting results are superimposed to obtain the predicted building energy consum... [more]

Regarding the vehicles used in civil engineering, some are manufactured in large quantities and some (especially innovative ones) are still prototypes manufactured for tests or rare use. The latter describes the case of equipment for mass mixing (mass stabilization) technology which is not widely used compared to other types of geotechnical equipment. The purpose of this paper is to present a research and development project on an innovative cement transporter designed for mass mixing. Three-dimensional models and advanced finite element method (FEM) calculations are used to validate the design of the most important part of the cement transporter—the frame connecting the undercarriage and the upper carriage. The results presented in the paper confirm that the design based on the strength criterion and boundary conditions from geotechnical safety requirements can be used for designing the parts of the prototype vehicle. It is concluded that in innovative vehicle design for geotechnical... [more]

There are two primary ways to save energy within a building: (1) through improving building engineering structures and adopting efficient appliance ownership, and (2) through changing occupants’ energy-consuming behaviors. Unfortunately the second way suffers from many challenges and limitations. Occupant behavior is, indeed, a complex and multi-disciplinary concept depending on several human factors. Although its importance is recognized by the energy management community, it is often oversimplified and naively defined when used to study, analyze or model energy load. This paper aims at promoting the definition of occupant behavior as well as exploring the extent to which the latter is involved in research works, targeting directly or indirectly energy savings. Hence, in this work, we propose an overview of interdisciplinary research approaches that consider occupants’ energy-saving behaviors, while we present the big picture and evaluate how occupant behavior is defined, we also prop... [more]

Prediction of pollutant emissions is a key aspect of modern combustor design in energy conversion systems. In the presented work, a simple and robust model based on low-order reaction networks is applied to a FLOX® laboratory combustor at atmospheric conditions. The applied approach is computationally cheap and therefore highly suited for design studies. Steady-state CFD RANS simulations are carried out, serving as a basis for the network generation algorithm. CFD results are validated with experimental data for flow field and combustion. Different degrees of fidelity of reactor network models are taken into consideration and findings are opposed to measurements, evaluating the quality of the low-fidelity models. Validation of CO and NOx emission results of reactor network modeling provides accurate qualitative and quantitative reproduction of experimental findings, depending on the degree of heat loss applied on the combustion system. The introduced approach is therefore readily appli... [more]

In recent years climate change has emerged as a global issue directly related to quality of life. In this context, one of the key goals in the next few decades will be to transition the global economy to a sustainable system. The nature of the energy planning process dictates the application of complex models. There is no universal solution to the energy planning problem. Each territory requires a bespoke strategy aimed at utilising its specific potential. The research presented in this paper explores reaching a zero-carbon energy system at the city level. It establishes a step-by-step decarbonisation method and proposes an energy transition index (ETI). The index presented is used to evaluate different renewable energy sources (RES) deployment scenarios in the context of affordability, self-reliance, and sustainability. The main aspects and barriers of deploying sustainable energy solutions are also explored. Some of the key challenges of RES deployment are identified as capital inten... [more]

Reserves totaling ~142 BCM (5 TCF) of natural gas trapped in 306 fields and ~22 MTOE (~157 MMBOE) of crude oil in 87 fields have been discovered. The prospection, exploration, and production of hydrocarbons are licensed: an entity interested in these kinds of activities needs to have concession, which is granted by the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment for 10 to 30 years according to one of two independent ways—international tender or open door procedure. In this review, the most prospective areas for oil and gas exploration in Poland, selected by the Polish Geological Survey, and announced as dedicated for the next 6th tender round, planned in the second half of 2022, are described. These are: Block 413−414, Block 208, Cybinka−Torzym, Zielona Góra West, and Koło areas. The main exploration target of these tender areas is related to conventional and unconventional accumulations of gas and oil in the Carpathian basement, Carpathian Foredeep, and Outer Carpathians (Block 413−414... [more]

The accurate prediction of the solar energy that can be generated using the rooftops of buildings is an essential tool for many researchers, decision makers, and investors for creating sustainable cities and societies. This study is focused on the development of an automated method to extract the useable areas of rooftops and optimize the solar PV panel layout based on the given electricity loading of a building. In this context, the authors of this article developed two crucial methods. First, a special pixel-based rooftop recognition methodology was developed to analyze detailed and complex rooftop types while avoiding the challenges associated with the nature of the particular building rooftops. Second, a multi-objective enveloped min−max optimization algorithm was developed to maximize solar energy generation and minimize energy cost in terms of payback based on the marginal price signals. This optimization algorithm facilitates the optimal integration of three controlled variables... [more]

Energy efficiency through energy saving is a key trend in the modern world. Analyses have been conducted by scientists in different fields on various target groups that influence sustainable energy consumption. The aim of the research presented in this article is to determine the association between parental attitudes and awareness of sustainable energy consumption in the perception of young people with ASD (13−17 years old). This was a pilot study. The diagnostic-survey method was used, along with The Scale of Parental Attitudes by M. Plopa and an authored survey questionnaire. Deliberate random sampling was applied. A statistical analysis showed a relationship between the acceptance attitude of both parents and the autonomy attitude of one parent—the father—and awareness of sustainable energy consumption among young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In addition, a critical literature review confirmed the necessity of combining energy awareness and financial awareness, as... [more]

The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the overall performance of a battery energy storage system (BESS) during (I) grid-connected, (II) black start, and (III) islanded operating modes. To do so, firstly, a novel three-mode controller is proposed and developed. The proportional−integral−derivative (PID) controller is implemented, including the following three components: (1) inertia emulation, (2) frequency-active power and voltage-reactive power droops, and (3) secondary frequency and voltage controllers. Secondly, to effectively evaluate the proposed controller performance under various grid operating conditions during both black start and seamless transition to islanded operation, a set of comprehensive dynamic simulations using Matlab/Simulink is carried out. To this end, the sensitivity analyses on numerous grid operating parameters, such as pre-disturbance grid power, total installed BESS capacity, battery state of charge, unbalanced three-phase load flows, implemented pow... [more]

In this paper, the 12-slot/4-pole (12/4) synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) with concentrated windings is proposed for low-cost hybrid vehicles. The non-linear magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) model of the 12/4 SynRM is built to obtain the main electromagnetic characteristics such as coil flux, inductances, torque, etc. The magnetic saturation is also counted in by the MEC. Results calculated by MEC are validated by 2D finite element analysis (FEA). Then, aiming at larger average torque, lower torque ripple and lower total harmonic distortion (THD) in phase voltage, the parameter optimization method of the SynRM is proposed based on the Taguchi method and the MEC model. The proposed Taguchi-MEC method enables a fast optimization with satisfactory accuracy. Finally, the motor prototype is manufactured, and experimental validations are carried out.

A sustainable nexus between renewable energy production and plastic abatement is imperative for overall sustainable development. In this regard, this study aims to develop a cheaper and environmentally friendly nexus between plastic waste management, wastewater treatment, and renewable hydrogen production. Fluorescent carbon (FCs) were synthesized from commonly used LDPE (low-density polyethylene) by a facile hydrothermal approach. Optical absorption study revealed an absorption edge around 300 nm and two emission bands at 430 and 470 nm. The morphological analysis showed two different patterns of FCs, a thin sheet with 2D morphology and elongated particles. The sheet-shaped particles are 0.5 μm in size, while as for elongated structures, the size varies from 0.5 to 1 μm. The as-synthesized FCs were used for the detection of metal ions (reference as Cu2+ ions) in water. The fluorescence intensity of FCs versus Cu2+ ions depicts its upright analytical ability with a limit of detection (... [more]

Rule-based systems, which are the typical technology used to realize context-aware services, have been independently implemented in various smart services. The challenges of these systems are the versatility of action, looseness, and the coding that is needed to describe the conditional branches. The purpose of this study was to support the realization of service coordination and smart services using context-aware technology by converting rule-based systems into services. In the proposed method, we designed and implemented the architecture of a new service: Unified Rule-Based Message Delivery Service (Uni-messe), which is an application-neutral rule management and evaluation service for rule-based systems. The core part of the Uni-messe proposal is the combination of a Pub/Sub and a rule-based system, and the proposal of a new event−condition−route (ECR) rule-based system. We applied Uni-messe to an audio information presentation system (ALPS) and indoor location sensing technology to... [more]

The high integration of power information physical system improves the efficiency of power transmission, but it also brings new threats to power grid. False data injection attacks can use traditional bad data to detect vulnerabilities and maliciously tamper with measurement data to affect the state estimation results. In order to achieve a higher security level for power systems, we propose an earth mover distance method to detect false data injection attacks in smart grids. The proposed method is built on the dynamic correlation of measurement data between adjacent moments. Firstly, a joint-image-transformation-based scheme is proposed to preprocess the measurement data variation, so that the distribution characteristics of measurement data variation are more significant. Secondly, the deviation between the probability distribution of measurement data variation and the histogram are obtained based on the earth’s mover distance. Finally, a reasonable detection threshold is selected to... [more]